What do he and his followers want? A world in which all men are united. I do not despise his goal. I share it. But I take issue with the means. Peace is something to be learned. To be understood. To be embraced, but… he would force it. And rob us of our free will in the process.

‘We come into the world kicking and screaming. Violent and unstable. It is what we are. We cannot help ourselves.’

Luceafarul / The Lucifer – the first of his poems I’ve got on my hands. I could not let it go. I was maybe 10 and didn’t understand much of the philosophical message underneath it. What I did enjoy was its rhythm and the story of the human and the falling star. I would not understand for many years ahead why the girl didn’t die to become a star. Somehow, I still don’t understand, and for sure the dry lectures of my Literature professors were not able to clear things out for me.

Luceafarul is officially the longest (98 stanzas) love story poem ever written. Ref: World Record Academy. So, yeah, next time people complain why Romanians talk too much: well, it’s in our blood, apparently 🙂 Also: we talk a lot about love and we love with all our hearts, and suffer cruelly when that love is not shared. For more info on this, just have a look at The Lucifer / Evening Star – on www.romanianvoice.com. This is the English version, the Romanian version too is Luceafarul. Pretty long poem, and some time in gymnasium I actually knew it by heart.